94% of CIOs dedicating up to half their time on innovation - Logicalis Ireland

Logicalis Ireland, the IT solutions and managed services provider, today announces the results of a survey which shows that 94% of CIOs spend between 10% and 50% of their time on innovation and other related activities.

The research, conducted in October and involving 840 IT leaders from Ireland and across the globe, reveals that there has been a marked shift in terms of the approach of the CIO. This year, 54% of respondents said they spend half their time on day-to-day IT management, compared to more than three quarters (78%) admitting same last year.

Instead of ‘keeping the lights on’, innovation has become the top priority for CIOs with the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) already having an impact. Almost half (46%) of IT leaders said their organisation is currently using IoT – this has increased from 24% a year ago – and a quarter of CIOs are already delivering business outcomes through IoT.

Similarly, 19% of CIOs say their organisations are using AI, with two thirds (66%) revealing it will be in use in their companies within the next three years. As for the area most likely to use AI, 17% cited customer service.

Half of CIOs now see their performance measured according to their ability to deliver service innovation and more than a third (35%) are expected to make a direct contribution to revenue growth. When asked about their involvement in organisation-wide innovation, 83% said they are playing an active role, with 32% driving and 51% enabling new approaches in this area.

The way businesses are thinking about innovation is also evolving, with strategies now aimed at enabling small scale, everyday experimentation. Thirty-four per cent of organisations take that approach, with the large-scale projects that once dominated now accounting for less than a quarter (23%).

Andrew Baird, Managing Director, Logicalis Ireland, commented: “It’s clear to see that the role of the CIO is evolving and it’s not surprising that IT leaders are increasingly immersed in organisational innovation and business growth. After all, they are the decision-makers shaping and enabling digital transformation through products and services.

“Certainly in Ireland, as reflected by the global findings, CIOs have assumed a much more central role in terms of strategy and innovation, often made possible by the handing over of day-to-day IT management to third parties and implementing the latest technologies.

“In addition to enabling greater innovation, putting digital technology and transformation at the heart of a business strategy facilitates collaboration and creativity. In turn, this can improve service delivery and attract new business, thus enabling revenue growth. It can also transform struggling organisations into industry leaders.”

“The investment by Logicalis Ireland in security and our focus on Hybrid IT, as well as the prioritisation by our partners in terms of bringing AI into their core solutions, supports this shift in focus and positions us well in supporting our clients.”